social security

A national organization recently asked me to write a brief piece on the future of retirement. Here’s how I responded. I know what retirement will–or at least should–look like 20 years from now. I’m just not sure how we will get from here to there. Unfortunately, my best guess is that we will have to […]

Lots of proposals have been put forth for a new and better retirement system, but they don’t answer the question of how we get from here to there. (For examples of proposals, see the SAFE plan or the Guaranteed Retirement Accounts proposal.) We have a fairly extensive – albeit far from perfect – 401(k) system […]

By I fancy that I stay abreast of what’s happening in the Social Security policy arena, so I was taken aback during a trip to Washington, D.C. to learn that a whole movement has developed to eliminate the bulk of Social Security’s 75-year deficit by scrapping the cap – that is, eliminating the earnings cap […]

Alicia H. Munnell With a contracting retirement income system, rapidly rising health-care costs, and the prospect of long-term care expenses, one would have thought that people approaching retirement would be paying off their credit card debt and closing out their mortgages. But surveys suggest that people are entering retirement with more debt than ever before […]

A distinct advantage of writing for my Over 65 colleagues and readers is that I can safely refer to bits of popular culture now long gone. In this case, I want to invoke the “perils of Pauline,” the troubles of a famous heroine in the silent film era. She went from one likely disaster to […]

As Congress and the President begin to grapple with the looming “fiscal cliff,” the topic of Social Security reform could receive renewed attention as part of any effort to address the long-term budget deficit. Some have asked whether policymakers considering Social Security changes could learn anything from recent state and local pension reforms. One of […]

Although I grew up in a middle class family in Washington, D.C., my father, one of the pioneers in the early days of radio, was in and out of jobs over the years, usually fired. We went from elegant parties with small orchestras in our home one year to taking in a boarder the next. […]